Airline tickets are contracts between the passenger and the carrier, but it’s the airlines that hold all the cards. From setting the rules to changing them after purchase, passengers are nearly helpless and that’s not right.
If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com.
If you haven’t followed us on Facebook or Instagram, add us today.
The Airlines Hold All The Cards
A number of provisions allow the carrier to change any of the conditions of the contract and few of them offer an opportunity for the consumer to terminate and refund the purchase. Classify this as a rant if you like, it’s an accurate categorization. I wanted to address a few items about the airline purchase agreement passengers adhere to when flying after having a specific issue recently.
I switched a flight to make a meeting. There was a fare difference and fee that changed the fare from around $400 roundtrip to $1,000. I had to get to a meeting that day and it was the only suitable flight, though the price was unconscionably high for a direct three-hour journey. I agreed to the price change because it was my plans that had altered and I had to be there.
But then United had a mechanical issue. The delay would make it impossible to make my meeting. Had I never changed my flight, I would have been in the same position – missing the meeting – but after paying the extortionate rate for a seat in coach (I hadn’t even cleared my upgrade) I was stuck late and out $600.
And there was nothing I could do.
Is that equitable?
If I was late to the flight, the airline might grant me a courtesy and rebook me. Or they may not, it’s at their discretion. Even if I show up on time for my departure, but not the 10-20 minutes early that most airlines demand before closing the boarding door, I could be sent packing and rescheduled as well. This isn’t news (there’s no “BREAKING” headline here) but I often forget about how many ways the airline has an unfair advantage over the consumer.
If, however, the airline has a mechanical issue (the EU considers that to be within the control of the airline) I am delayed but owed nothing. If they fail to adequately schedule crews, resources, or supplies I am owed nothing though I paid for transportation with the appropriate accouterments. It seems inequitable, and in most instances, inequitable contracts are unenforceable.
What Does United Owe Me?
If I buy something from Amazon and never receive it, I am entitled to a refund. If I order a pepperoni pizza and get Hawaiian (which should be immediately thrown in the garbage), I can return it, keep it (it’s already in the bin as a public service anyway) for free or get a new replacement, often at a discount.
This falls under non-performance. United was happy enough to charge me the fare difference for the flight and a change fee, and I agreed to pay it to fly on that flight and make my meeting. So when United fails to perform on the contract, shouldn’t I be owed money back? How much money am I due? Is it just the change fee and fare difference I paid? What about extra money I spent at the airport parking over the flight I had originally booked? Is that not a direct result of their failure to perform? What about passenger downtime? While I can work from a laptop and a phone anywhere, not everyone can.
There are other tangible costs (I booked a hotel for a day earlier, an extra day on my car rental) but what about the intangible. My meeting was to secure a sale, what if I lose the deal? I can’t expect United to pay for my potential business results, but that doesn’t mean that their delay forcing me to miss my meeting wouldn’t have any effect on my business outcomes either.
Mistakes Happen, Safety Is Everyone’s Top Priority
Everyone makes mistakes from time-to-time and I believe that there should be a fair amount of forgiveness available for those who do, I make them all the time. But If I charged someone and failed to deliver, I don’t get to keep the money; United (and all of the other carriers) do. I don’t mind paying more to get more or to get something different, but if that product isn’t delivered, I don’t expect to incur the charge anyway. This isn’t a lottery, it’s a contract.
The delay I experienced was of a mechanical nature and I am not suggesting that United play roulette with safety. I want them to be safe as much as they do. But when that safety or mechanical delay causes the deliverables of our contract to breach, why am I still holding the bag? If I have a safety issue that prevents me from making my flight, a last-minute doctor appointment, a rush to the hospital, United isn’t going to send me a check back for my fare stating, “safety is our number one priority”, they only get to say that when they mess up and hold my journey hostage.
What do you think? Are airlines responsible for delivering what they sell?
Declare a trip in vain and get back your full $1000. This shouldn’t even be a negotiation w/the airline esp. if you are a 1K as I believe you are.
Good read. I never really thought of it like that. Ironically both united and American have been pretty good to me recently booking me on new flights without change fees.
Having never really been in a situation such as yours (on my own dime that is) I have to confess that as a frequent flier I’d never really given the issue much though.
I’d take them to small clains court if no refund was forthcoming. Like automobile dealers, there isn’t a judge out there who doesn’t hold a grudge against an airline IMHO.
To play Devil’s Advocate on one of your points, if the passenger has a meeting or function that is THAT important to get to on time, doesn’t the passenger bear some responsibility for allowing enough time for possible delays, even if that means flying in the night before? I’m paranoid enough about delays that I almost always do that for critical meetings, or if it’s a personal trip where missing the start ruins the entire thing, like a cruise or wedding.
That being said, I do agree that the current system is unfair, where even a minor change I want to make costs me $200 and a fare difference, yet the airline can change schedules at any time for any reason, even to the point of making the flight useless to me, and they owe me nothing. And don’t even get me started on the whole mistake fare issue. I think the right thing to do is to make the penalty on both sides equal, or at least closer to equal. If I have 24 hours to fix a mistake on a reservation, then the airlines should only have 24 hours to cancel a mistake fare. If a flight change costs me $200, the airlines should be required to pay SOMETHING for a material schedule change (I’d probably be satisfied with some funny money).
Sounds to me like you’re flying the wrong airline. If this had happened to me, after a couple minutes of apologizing, the Alaska Airlines rep would have made it right and given me a credit. As a tier 3 elite, I don’t pay change fees on paid or award tickets. why are you paying change fees?
Airline contracts are what we in the legal world call “contracts of adhesion.” Essentially these are (mostly) commercial contracts we enter into without negotiating the terms because we have no power to do so. Unfortunately, when you bought the ticket, you agreed to the terms of that contract that allowed them to have no responsibility for mechanical delays and even more unfortunately, the Supreme Court has been super supportive of these kinds of contracts. In that realm its mostly played out in limitations on class actions and forced arbitration that makes individual small claims that add up to a big issue impossible to litigate without losing money on the litigation (even in small claims court), but now that Kavanaugh is on the court we can be guaranteed that the jurisprudence around these contracts will become even more anti-consumer.
I was with you until your last comment. Idk if you’ve studied his history but it seems like you’re just making a random assertion. While he is conservative, he’s had at least a few opinions that are strongly pro-consumer and his LR days seem to reflect the same sentiment.
Regardless of recent events, his history is one of reason and thoughtfulness.
Please cite those opinions. I would like to believe you, because while Kennedy was pretty good for abortion rights and great for LGBT rights and such, he is the source of Citizens United for complicated reasons I won’t go into. So if Kavanaugh is less corporate friendly, I’d love to see it.
“Airlines are only industry where discussion isn’t about whether the customer is always right but whether the customer has any rights at all.” Brancatelli.
I am a 1K UA frequent flyer. This experience has me convinced that AA does a better job addressing issues through its One World partners as I have experienced similar issues in the past.
I was on this flight (UA 47 from Frankfurt to Houston on October 7, 2018). A roller coaster of delays starting from the captain announcing an engine maintenance issue after we were all on-board. Couple that with a limited number of pushback tugs and one of the three runways closed at Frankfurt airport AND only 1 UA ground staff to respond to passenger offloading and re-booking, this was a royal mess.
I was on a 2 week round the world business trip from 9/27 from Houston to Tokyo and proceeded to a multi-country customer meetings/events. My final leg was UA47 and was on my way home to Houston on 10/7 so I could have dinner with my family and attend my 7am CDT meeting on Monday 10/8.
Bottom line, United Airlines fell short on customer service. Period!
Try flying internationally on Turkish Airlines! I booked flights for 10 travelers months in advance. Two weeks before the flights, Turkish cancelled the return flight because the airport was moving. (Unforeseen???) Their solution was to cut our trip short, rebook 2 days earlier and have 10 people hangout at the airport for 48 hours! Turkish finally agreed to refund my money, but then I had to rebook a ‘last minute’ flight with another airline at a higher cost. Why can they cancel a confirmed flight when I have no right to cancel?